Activists and artists create new way to regenerate 'City of Gold'

Bethabile Mavis Mangele mops the veranda of the house she has lived in for most of the past 40 years.

- By Rachel Savage

The ceiling above her is full of holes, blackened by years of cooking fires. Mangele, 64, isn’t sure how many people live in the house’s seven rooms. There are no utilities, the landlord is absent and she hasn’t paid rent in years, she says through a translator. The occupants share a portable toilet provided and cleaned by an NGO, plus one outdoor tap with the house next door, which has no roof.

Mangele’s home in the inner city district of Berea is emblematic of Johannesburg’s downtown, which was progressively abandoned by wealthy people, businesses and government from the 1980s. Hundreds of buildings left empty by landlords are now overcrowded, and the area is notorious for crime.

The shine is coming off the City of Gold, with growing numbers of residents dissatisfied with basic services such as water and roads, according to the latest quality of life survey by the Gauteng City-Region Observatory. In March, South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, criticised the environment as being “not pleasing” and set up a presidential working group to “revive” Johannesburg before it hosts the G20 summit in November.